There is a reckless mobster, Nick Moses (Harry Guardino), in the Nitti mob. When the boss tells him to make up with another gangster within the organization, Vinnie, Nick pretends to make nice...and then has Vinnie killed! So much for friendship and niceness! Unfortunately, in the process an innocent kid is also shot and he could have seen something. So how can Nick now avoid being killed by the mob for his stupid behaviors? He proposes killing Ness...and the mob can show their appreciation by overlooking Nick's little indiscretions! Doesn't Nick realize that Ness is the hero on this show and CAN'T be killed?! The only real excitement is seeing how he DOESN'T kill Ness!! This is a decent episode but is harmed immensely by the opening scene. In the teaser, they actually SHOW the attempt on Ness' life and you see how he avoids death!! Talk about anticlimactic!!! Exciting and interesting but no real sense of suspense.
4 Reviews
Nick needs to learn that the house always wins...
AlsExGal7 March 2022
... which is something a compulsive gambler has a hard time taking to heart.
Nick Moses is a gangster and a hard core gambler. Nitti mentions how he'd seen Nick gamble with twenty five or fifty thousand dollars and never break a sweat. But gambling with your life and the syndicate is another matter. Moses has taken over the territory of another gangster, Vinny Orcell, while that gangster was out of town. Nitti tells both gangsters to settle their differences peacefully. Nick takes that as letting Orcell rest in peace and hires out a hit on him. The hit goes badly, with a parade of bullets needing to be fired on a busy city block to get the guy, with one stray bullet wounding a kid selling papers. Nick is called to an audience with Nitty who sentences him to death for disobedience. But Nick is not worried because he has something to offer Nitty - Ness' life - as Nick's ultimate big gamble.
Joe De Santis returns as dapper deaf don Louis Latito, an ambassador of sorts for Frank Nitti. He confidently pushes men half his age around, sporting the bulky devices that were hearing aids in the 1930s. He makes that hearing aid work for him by telling loud gangsters to speak softly on account of the device, or just saying he will turn off the device entirely at some point so a gangster can't continue to argue with him. Also note Michael Constantine in a small but important role as the father of the paper boy shot in the gangland hit.
Nick Moses is a gangster and a hard core gambler. Nitti mentions how he'd seen Nick gamble with twenty five or fifty thousand dollars and never break a sweat. But gambling with your life and the syndicate is another matter. Moses has taken over the territory of another gangster, Vinny Orcell, while that gangster was out of town. Nitti tells both gangsters to settle their differences peacefully. Nick takes that as letting Orcell rest in peace and hires out a hit on him. The hit goes badly, with a parade of bullets needing to be fired on a busy city block to get the guy, with one stray bullet wounding a kid selling papers. Nick is called to an audience with Nitty who sentences him to death for disobedience. But Nick is not worried because he has something to offer Nitty - Ness' life - as Nick's ultimate big gamble.
Joe De Santis returns as dapper deaf don Louis Latito, an ambassador of sorts for Frank Nitti. He confidently pushes men half his age around, sporting the bulky devices that were hearing aids in the 1930s. He makes that hearing aid work for him by telling loud gangsters to speak softly on account of the device, or just saying he will turn off the device entirely at some point so a gangster can't continue to argue with him. Also note Michael Constantine in a small but important role as the father of the paper boy shot in the gangland hit.
Crooks Turn On Each Other & Ness Hunts All Of Them
ccthemovieman-122 November 2011
After Capone is sent to jail, a handful of thugs - led by Frank Nitti - is left to run the businesses. The only problem is that one of them, Nick Moses, has already moved in on another's territory and won't give it up. Nitti wants the parties to work out their differences peacefully but that doesn't happen. Moses hires a hit-man to take out his opposition.
Now, Nitti and the rest of the gang want Moses dead but the latter talks himself into a deal. "My life or Elliot Ness's," he offers Nitti. The deal is made but with a six-day time-line. If Ness isn't dead in six days, Moses will be.
The suspense of both the Untouchables trying to get the gangsters and the hit-man trying to get Ness makes this a riveting story. Add in the fact that a small boy also gets shot, and what the father does with that situation and you have a number of interesting subplots.
Some famous actors of the era - Harry Guardino, Michael Constantine and Bruce Gordon all guest-star.
Now, Nitti and the rest of the gang want Moses dead but the latter talks himself into a deal. "My life or Elliot Ness's," he offers Nitti. The deal is made but with a six-day time-line. If Ness isn't dead in six days, Moses will be.
The suspense of both the Untouchables trying to get the gangsters and the hit-man trying to get Ness makes this a riveting story. Add in the fact that a small boy also gets shot, and what the father does with that situation and you have a number of interesting subplots.
Some famous actors of the era - Harry Guardino, Michael Constantine and Bruce Gordon all guest-star.
One Reckless Hoodlum
bkoganbing25 July 2012
Robert Stack as Eliot Ness gets a target painted on his back courtesy of Harry Guardino in this Untouchables episode. Guardino as it turns out is one reckless hoodlum.
With Al Capone now in federal prison the old organization is cracking under the seams. Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti is trying to hold things together. When Harry Guardino poaches on Peter Mamakos's territory, Gordon tells them to settle thing amicably. Amicably for Guardino is making a deal and then letting one of his gunmen do his things. A young newspaper boy is wounded in the hit on Mamakos.
The murder of Mamakos is a mystery to official law enforcement, just another gangster slaying, the little boy's injuries draw unwanted attention. Gordon is ready to kill Guardino, but Guardino gets a reprieve for a week if he can deliver a dead Eliot Ness. That's enough for Gordon especially if it can't be traced to him. Otherwise syndicate justice takes affect.
This is a great episode illustrative of the criminal mindset at its most reckless. Guardino wants what he wants and doesn't care, he really enjoys the violence aspect for its own sake. In fact this episode has a lot of dead and wounded.
With Al Capone now in federal prison the old organization is cracking under the seams. Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti is trying to hold things together. When Harry Guardino poaches on Peter Mamakos's territory, Gordon tells them to settle thing amicably. Amicably for Guardino is making a deal and then letting one of his gunmen do his things. A young newspaper boy is wounded in the hit on Mamakos.
The murder of Mamakos is a mystery to official law enforcement, just another gangster slaying, the little boy's injuries draw unwanted attention. Gordon is ready to kill Guardino, but Guardino gets a reprieve for a week if he can deliver a dead Eliot Ness. That's enough for Gordon especially if it can't be traced to him. Otherwise syndicate justice takes affect.
This is a great episode illustrative of the criminal mindset at its most reckless. Guardino wants what he wants and doesn't care, he really enjoys the violence aspect for its own sake. In fact this episode has a lot of dead and wounded.
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